This image provided by Astrobotic Technology shows a layer of insulation in the foreground the company described as “disturbed,” and the first visual proof something was malfunctioning on board the lunar lander after launch on Monday, Jan. 8, 2024. (Astrobiotic/TNS)
(Tribune News Service) — The moon will have to wait for commercial company Astrobotic Technology after its lunar lander began malfunctioning after a successful launch from the Space Coast on Monday.
The Pittsburgh-based company’s goals for a Feb. 23 soft landing on the near side of the moon came into question soon after it lifted off atop a United Launch Alliance Vulcan Centaur from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
While it was put into the proper trajectory by ULA and Astrobotic teams were able to communicate with the spacecraft, it was not able to remain in the expected sun-facing position for power, with data revealing a propellant leak was the culprit.
Late Monday, Astrobotic revealed it was relying on the Attitude Control System thrusters to keep it from “an uncontrollable tumble,” but that corrective measure was thought would only last about 40 hours, although on Tuesday afternoon, Astrobotic updated details of its overnight efforts that set the clock again for 40 more hours before it is no longer able to correct its sun-pointing position, and then lose power.
“The Peregrine spacecraft has now been operational for about 32 hours,” the company posted at 12:30 p.m. Tuesday. “Overnight, the team faced another spacecraft pointing issue, but continues to persevere. The spacecraft started to tilt away from the sun and reduced its solar power generation. The team was able to update the control algorithm and fix this issue. The batteries are at full charge.”
It was the first time the company stated that its intended soft moon landing was completely impossible.
“Given the propellant leak, there is, unfortunately, no chance of a soft landing on the moon. However, we do still have enough propellant to continue to operate the vehicle as a spacecraft,” the company stated. “The team has updated its estimates, and we currently expect to run out of propellant in about 40 hours from now — an improvement from last night’s estimate.”
So instead Astrobotic will focus on gathering information to help inform its next spacecraft, the moon lander Griffin, which is aiming for launch atop a SpaceX Falcon Heavy carrying a large NASA lunar rover to the moon’s south pole before the end of the year.
“The team continues to work to find ways to extend Peregrine’s operational life. We are in a stable operating mode and are working payload and spacecraft tests and checkouts,” the company stated. “We continue receiving valuable data and proving spacecflight operations for components and software relating to our next lunar lander mission, Griffin.”
The original flight plan was for Peregrine to make the trip to the moon in about 12 days with three corrective burns so it could enter a high lunar orbit. Without solar power to charge the spacecraft’s battery, those plans have been scrapped.
The company has not said just how much it will be able to target the moon before it loses power or whether or not it has a chance of a hard impact landing on the moon or if it will just continue on a deep-space trajectory.
“Given the situation, we have prioritized maximizing the science and data we can capture. We are currently assessing what alternative mission profiles may be feasible at this time,” the company posted on Monday.
Peregrine was the first of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services missions to get off the ground. NASA pays commercial companies a fixed price for those companies to take whatever assigned payload to the moon. To date NASA has awarded nine CLPS contracts with eight of them for landers and one for a lunar orbiter.
Astrobotic was paid $108 million for this mission and given five NASA payloads, four of which NASA has spare versions of that can fly on future CLPS missions. To offset the cost, Astrobotic flew 15 more payloads including lunar rovers for Carnegie Mellon University and the Mexican space agency.
Controversy surrounded two of its payloads though from a pair of companies in the business of flying human remains to space. Buu Nygren, president of the Navajo Nation, which represents about 400,000 people, criticized NASA and the commercial companies for allowing the remains to go to the moon as the Native American tribe considers the moon sacred. It’s a stance that was taken back in 1999 when a lunar probe was deliberately sent in for a crash landing on the moon carrying the remains of geologist Eugene Shoemaker.
At the time, NASA agreed to let the Navajo Nation know if there were any plans to allow similar missions in the future, but among the criticism was NASA did not reach out ahead of the Astrobotic mission.
Back in December Nygren sent a letter to NASA and the Department of Transportation asking for a delay in the launch, and without any response, he last week went to media to spread the word about the Navajo stance.
Those efforts did get him a meeting with the White House on Friday, but the launch proceeded as planned.
One of the companies that organizes the space memorial flights, Celestic Inc., was responsible for the Shoemaker flight and has been advertising lunar remains missions for years, though. As NASA plans to just be a customer in the future for a burgeoning lunar economy, NASA officials had stated that they won’t have as much a say on what goes along for the ride on lunar missions.
Nygren, though, pushed back.
“NASA, being able to have parts of the payload and paying for part of the mission, they should have a lot to say on it,” he said. “And so into the future, one of the things I want to do is continue to collaborate and work with them as they move on to further missions to make sure that NASA does have a big say on that. Maybe there’s an agreement between tribal nations and the Navajo Nation as well that if NASA is going to be a part of a mission, then they shouldn’t be transporting human remains to the moon in respect to honoring the promise that NASA made with the Navajo Nation back in the 90s.”
Astrobotic’s Griffin mission is to date its only other CLPS missions. Texas-based companies Intuitive Machines and Firefly Aerospace also have CLPS missions planned in 2024 and beyond along with a future mission from Draper Lab out of Cambridge, Mass. NASA plans on announcing at least two more CLPS contract awards out of 14 qualified commercial companies this year, with about two per year thereafter as part of the program’s $2.6 billion budgeted through 2028.
Celestis is already advertising its next moon landing memorial mission, but not planned for launch on an undetermined provider until at least the second half of 2025. The other company that flew on board Peregrine, Elysium Space, does not have future missions yet advertised.
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